Johnny Appleseed

So many stories have been told about John Chapman, as the author's note explains, that Johnny Appleseed can be considered a Tall Tale character, like Paul Bunyan.  ('course, I've heard lately that Paul Bunyan, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and many other traditional characters were actually developed by advertisers, like the Pillsbury Doughboy.)  Kellogg gracefully writes about what is known with fair confidence, and relates likely tales as people have said" and therefore comes up with a nice little biography.  And of course his art style is perfectly suited to the tale... so fun, and warm & rich, too.  Chapman seems to be a darn good 'folk hero' role model, and I think every school library should have a copy of this book."

This picture book biography tells the facts we know about John Chapman, the man who headed west to explore the uncharted territory of the new United States. Along the way, he made friends with animals, Native Americans, and settlers, planting apple seeds and telling stories. This story makes a good introduction to the concept of tall tales since it is split into two parts: factual information and exaggerated stories.

This is a great biography for young readers to read because it is informational that reads like a story. The artwork looks like it was drawn with an ink pen and colored with paint. The content in this book includes the life of John Chapman and how he became known as Johnny Appleseed. He was born in Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War and became known as Johnny Appleseed when he planted apple trees and gave them to settlers. He was a true American hero. The reading level is 2nd or 3rd and you could read this book when talking about history and the settlers. This book would be a fun way to introduce Johnny Appleseed and talk about how influential he was in history.

This is a story of Johnny Appleseed with a twist. It shows Johnny chopping down old forest to plant his orchards. It made me think about what he did, and I still haven't decided how I feel about what he did.

Johnny Appleseed: A Tall Tale not only has a great story about the man behind the myth, but also fantastic illustrations. I picked this book, and then when I turned to the first page, I realized I had read this when I was a child! The illustrations are beautiful and are just as important as the text. I appreciate that the author and illustrator state that people made up stories and embellished stories about Johnny Appleseed. He does mention in the author's note where he got his information from, which I think is important. I did read it with skeptical eye because it is hard to tell what is made up or embellished and what is the truth. For example, in the illustrations, he never wears any shoes. I am not sure if that truly happened or show more not. This could be used in a history class where students learn more about other real men and myths about them such as Paul Bunyan or Buffalo Bill. I would also like to know more about his relationship with Native Americans. Did he really get along with them? Why? Was it because he respected animals and nature like them? What happened during the War of 1812? Was he still friendly with the Native Americans? Students could try to answer all these questions. show less

Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg was a biography. I like this book for several reasons. First, I enjoyed this book because the illustration matched the mood and enhanced the story. For example, Kellogg discusses the death of Johnny Appleseed's mother and on that page the illustration is dark, with colors such as grey, dark blue, and black. However, on the page where Johnny Appleseed is connecting with nature the illustrator uses colors like green, yellow, and red to convey a happy mood. I also liked the language Steven Kellogg used. Kellogg remains informational and uses a narrative voice the entire book. His language is also very descriptive. For example in the sentence, "John walked hundreds of miles through the Pennsylvania forest, show more living like Indians he befriended on the trail," the other uses descriptive language to engage the writers. Lastly, I thought the other did a good job in pushing readers to think about nature. The book is focused on Johnny Appleseed's love for nature, and the affects he had on the people and animals around him. For example, in this book he has relationship with many animals such as bears and deer. This pushes the read to think about nature and what their affect on nature is. Which happens to be the big idea of the book, nature. show less

I found this book to be captivating. John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman , was born in 1775 and lost his mother shortly thereafter in childbirth. His father married shortly thereafter and he soon had ten siblings living in a small house with him. He was know to be a lover of nature and sought the solitude of the forest to get away from the inevitable noisy home. He spent long stretches walking with nature but never shied away from hard work. I liked the format of nine chapters in chronological order of his life. This allowed his love of nature, animals, people, and especially, apple trees to foster and grow like the apple saplings he planted . It's interesting that they mention his friend, Mr. Crawford who teaches him all about apples. It show more isn't until Johnny reaches the ripe old age of eighteen that he sets out to plant his own orchards. He stays ahead of the settlers always planting orchards and then as the settlers arrive he sells the land to them along with the well developed apple orchards. A big part of the draw of Johnny Appleseed is his larger than life personality and that fact that he was so gracious and giving. show less